The previous week’s rally in US government bond markets, that may have heralded a change in sentiment towards the Federal Reserve in its fight against inflation, was repeated around the world. British government bonds followed their US brethren upwards after the release of UK inflation data that showed a surprising decline in so-called core inflation, which excludes more volatile components such as food and fuel. Eurozone sovereign bonds then had their own rally after the release of business activity surveys for the Eurozone that indicated a sharp slowdown in growth and, therefore, in inflationary pressures.

Unfortunately, every silver lining comes with a cloud, and the news that is so comforting to bond investors ought to have been disturbing to equity investors. The big rate rises in the US will have a negative impact on economic growth down the line, and disastrous business activity surveys in Europe imply that company profits will struggle. So far, during this current bear market, expectations for company profits have held up relatively well, but the company analysts that make these forecasts are notorious for being congenitally over-optimistic. Stock markets are vulnerable to another correction as profit-forecasts are rebased to a slower-growth, higher-inflation world.

It was notable, therefore, that stock markets managed to rally even while the chairman of the US Federal Reserve was giving his biannual testimony to the American government, reiterating his commitment to fighting inflation, and despite his acknowledgement that it will be very difficult to engineer a “soft landing” to the economy. Investors seem to want a vigorous approach to fighting inflation, perhaps fearing large rate rises now less than uncontrolled inflation, which brings the threat of even more vigorous rate rises further down the line. In any case the relief was palpable, with US equity markets bouncing by a solid 5-7%.

The positive sentiment was assisted by news from China, where government officials, including no less an authority than President Xi Jinping himself, were queuing up to re-commit to meeting the government’s economic targets for the year, despite the huge negative impact of recent Covid-lockdowns. Given that these targets now look outlandishly large, this will require a huge stimulus to the Chinese economy. Chinese equities continued their impressive rally, and are now up nearly 30% from their lows in March.

Finally, the rally was cemented when an important survey in the US showed that consumer expectations for inflation were not as bad as feared. Chairman Powell had referenced this data himself when explaining the Fed’s last rate rise, so there was general relief when the data was revised downwards. Survey respondents now expect inflation to rise by 3.1% over the next five-to-ten years, rather than the 3.3% that had caught the Fed’s attention. Nobody seemed to care that this survey comprises a mere 600 respondents, or that the reduction was due to a statistical revision rather than a change in actual inflation expectations.